BLOG: Quilting + Appliqué

Controlled Chaos Scrap Quilt – Block #14

April 8, 2015

I had to take a bit of a break from the Controlled Chaos quilt over the holidays and into this spring – but I’m ready to finish this baby!

Here’s block #14 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

48 two-inch squares in color A (shown in aqua)
52 two-inch squares in color B (shown in magenta)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up in rows. The top and bottom rows are identical, as are rows 2 and 9, rows 3 and 7, etc. Knowing that can help you sew them up in batches.

Then sew those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

That’s 14 blocks done – just 6 more to go!

I think I’m going to go with grey sashing between the blocks. I like the way it sets off each one as its own little composition. Plus – I’m heartily sick of matching up seams. 🙂

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

Made with Love – Donating Your Handmade Quilts and Softies

March 30, 2015

Every once in a while I get an email from someone saying they love to make softies, but don’t have any children in their lives right now the right age to get them. They want some suggestions for where they can donate their creations.

There are so many wonderful places!

children’s hospitals
firefighters and police departments like to keep some on hand to give to traumatized children
homeless and family violence shelters
orphanages – both in the US and overseas

This is just a the tip of the iceberg! I put out a call in a recent newsletter asking readers where they give, and I got a bunch of great responses!

So let’s start with a few general guidelines and things to think about, and then move into the specific suggestions offered by readers.

The number one bit of advice I have is to ask first! Some organizations might have restrictions that you could never anticipate. Depending on the ward, some hospitals can only take toys that are made of hypoallergenic materials – they can give you a list of what is and isn’t allowed. One suggestion that surprised me (but made perfect sense) was to keep arms and legs minimal so there’s less to get hooked on tubes and wires.

My local shelter asked for toys to be small – they pointed out that each kid has a bed and a small shelf and that’s it – and when they leave they leave with a small bag. They can’t have a stuffed animal that takes up half the bag. They also asked for some teen-appropriate softies, saying the teens are often happy to have a softie to hug, but don’t want something that looks too babyish – a request that totally broke my heart. So contact the organization and ask first.

And remember – your favorite organization might prefer cash! I’ve lost count of the number of cat and dog quilts that have been made and auctioned off at shelter fundraisers! Every one of them makes me so happy!

Sarah of Dolls and Daydreams has some really great info about donating dolls abroad here.

And now – here are some responses from readers. . .

Lots and lots of people mentioned the Knit-a-Square organization. They collect knitted and crocheted squares to be joined into afghans, and also handmade stuffed animals and dolls – all going to AIDS orphans in Africa. Definitely take a look at their website – they have the infrastructure to distribute a LOT of love. 🙂

Julia writes. . .

I am about to send two quilts to Quilts For Kids, an organization that donates quilts for kids in hospitals. I have tons of baby-ish fabrics in my closet and feel great that they’re all going to a good cause.

After I found out about QFK heard a lovely story about a family that had premature twin babies in a NICU in New York–the NICU also had quilts and both parents commented on how comforting this was.

Beatrice writes. . .

Currently I am in the process of making lots of “Warrens” which will be donated to orphanages and cancer hospitals in Egypt. I have been living in this country for 18 years and donated lots of items and cash to help the poorest, which sadly are numerous. This time though, I feel really happy, because with every lovely bear finished I try to imagine a little girl or boy who will love what I have created.

Liz writes. . .

A local organization that I donate time, money, and material things to is Hope’s Door, in Dallas. It’s a shelter for battered women and their children. They do a wonderful job and are a great bunch of dedicated, insanely organized people. Throughout the year, Hope’s Door does everything from toy drives to fun runs to auctions. If you’re going to post a list, I’d love for you to mention them, and I know they would appreciate it, too! They always have needs because, sadly, they always have clients.

Cindy writes. . .

There is a woman who works with my husband who belongs to a small church that gives away bags of food once a month. For Christmas I donate lots of stuffed animals and dolls. And also at Easter I donate Easter things – bunnies and chicks, etc. I’m so grateful I have the time and money to do this.

Candy writes. . .

Here’s a suggestion of where to donate softies; local hospitals and local woman’s shelters. I have been making and donating for several years now to both. The shelters love the animals or dolls because lots of times the families are rushed away from their homes because of fear and abuse and don’t have time to grab things of love and importance so having something to cling to (softie) is sometimes a life saver. This goes for kids as well as the women. Hospitals love any type of donation, whether it be softies, knitted things for babies, sewn things for babies and blankies. I know there are lots of other places to donate but these are my favorite.

Laura writes. . .

Wildlife rescue groups sometimes request crochet artificial nests for orphaned birds, bunnies, possums etc. Your readers can see if they can find one locally that needs some.

I have seen cat and dog rescues that take handmade fleece blankets to shelters so the animals don’t have to sleep in those harsh metal cages without any protection and warmth they can receive from a blanket. Just make sure to contact rescue first to obtain size wanted.

An excellent charity is your local domestic violence shelter. These families have fled their homes with nothing. They can use new blankets and quilts ( I have donated many fleece blankets for infants and toddlers), new handmade softies for the kids, hats gloves and scarves in the winter. This is an extremely rewarding charity to donate!

Ann writes. . .

I donate softies and dolls at my local hospital pediatrics ward and in the Emergency Room waiting area where children often are waiting with adults. I also go to the local pediatric office, pediatric dentist office, the sheriff’s department and the fire department.

Joan writes. . .

We are a small group of ladies that gather once a month to sew to donate. Some of local items we have donated are fleece hats given to our pre-school. We used a pattern from Nancy’s Notions. They loved them. Kid capes were given to our local day care centers. We borrowed a doll from the pre-school and made doll clothes, diapers, blankets, a mattress for a crib, etc. for their room. This month we are making pillows for cancer patients. We are making a port pillow, heart shaped pillows, rectangle pillows. These are delivered to local hospitals that give cancer treatments. One month we did walker bags for a local nursing home. We did lap quilts for shut-ins. We have made burp cloths and receiving blankets and bibs for Northeast Nebraska Community Action Partnership.

We like to find local spots we can donate for we have found postage is soo expensive.

Finally – a couple of specific patterns.

I designed Warren the Charity Bear especially for donations. He can be made out of any kind of fabric, with any kind of stuffing, and has lots of possible variations so you won’t get bored if you decide to make a lot of them – like Kathy and many others have done. 🙂

Kathy made the Warrens in this photo and Caroline made the ones in the top photo – both for Knit-a-Square.

I’ve also heard that Warren makes an excellent post-op cough pillow for kids. People who have had chest or abdominal surgery are taught to hug a pillow when they cough, to help support the incision and ease pain. Warren is just the right size and shape for this. 🙂 He also has very small arms and legs – small enough that lines and cords in a hospital bed won’t get caught on them.

You can see how to make Warren here.

I also have a tutorial here showing how I made an easy scrap quilt for charity.

If you have any other suggestions – either for places to donate or favorite patterns to use – please leave a note in the comments section!

Happy sewing!

Free Bunny Applique Pattern with Fun Mix & Match Parts

March 27, 2015

I’ve been thinking about designing a bunny applique block for a couple of years now, but Easter always seems to come and go before I have a chance to do it.

But not this year!

And I didn’t just design a bunny block – I designed a free bunny applique pattern with mix & match parts so you can play with it to make lots and lots and lots of unique bunnies. 🙂

Playing is good!

The pattern has three bunny head shapes, three bunny ear shapes, and three bunny faces. You can mix and match those for (I think) 27 possible bunnies. Throw in different color possibilities and you could make a king-sized quilt with no repeated blocks!

Download the pattern here.

If you’ve made any of my quilts, the construction will look familiar. The patterns have already been reversed and exploded so they can be printed right on my beloved printable fusible adhesive. No tracing! La la la la la.

I strongly recommend prewashing any fabric you use with fusible adhesive. The sizing on the unwashed fabric can resist the adhesive. And don’t use fabric softener in your wash – it can do the same thing. (Dryer sheets are fine.)

You can trace onto your favorite fusible if you want to, but I’m lazy and like to skip right to the fun part.

If you prefer the freezer paper applique technique you can print the pieces onto freezer paper, but the instructions I’m giving here are for applique with fusible adhesive. For a complete overview of that technique (my favorite) click here. Find general instructions for freezer paper applique here, and needle turn applique here.

I’m completely in love with the Quilt As You Go method, so I did all the outline stitching and quilting through the top fabric and the batting. I usually do the quilting before I do the applique so I don’t have to work around the pieces. Easy peasy.

Cut each background block 10 1/2″ square.

Step 1

Roughly cut out the pattern pieces and fuse them to the back of your fabric.

Step 2

Cut out the pieces neatly. Cut right on the solid lines. Leave a little extra seam allowance where there’s a dotted line – that bit of the piece will tuck behind another bit for a clean finish.

Step 3

Choose a face and trace it onto the face piece.

If you tape the face in a window and then hold the face fabric up against it, the image will shine right through for easy tracing.

I usually trace just inside the eyes and nose (so I don’t have to be perfect with how I position those applique pieces) and right on the mouth because I’m not using an erasable pen. Don’t use a Frixion pen to mark the face! It will disappear when you fuse the pieces together and you will be sad. 🙁

After I’m done tracing the face, I fuse the eyes and nose to black fabric for their applique pieces.

Step 4

Play around with the placement of the ears.

Do you want them standing straight up? Spread wide? Wonky and uneven? There is no right answer – they’re all cute. Do what you like!

Step 5

Layer all the pieces and fuse in place following the manufacturer’s instructions.

Don’t forget to tuck the base of the ears and inner ears behind the head before you fuse.

Step 6

Stitch around all your pieces.

I machine stitch with regular all-purpose black thread with basic straight stitching everywhere. I love the cartoony look it gives! I go over the mouth twice to give it extra weight.

For help with those tight curves, watch this video.

If you don’t want to applique the eyes and nose, you’ll find several other options here.

Done! With that block, at least. 🙂

There are instructions for finishing a Quilt As You Go quilt here.

See how to layer and baste any quilt here.

Learn how to bind a quilt here.

Here are the details on the three bunnies I made. . .

This bunny uses Head #1, Face #3 and the fat ears.

This bunny uses head #2, face #2, and the skinny ears.

This bunny uses head #3, face #1 and the medium ears.

I made my three blocks into a pretty springtime wall-hanging.

There are instructions for adding a hanging sleeve here.

Combine multiple blocks in any configuration to make a baby quilt, a wall hanging, or a bed quilt.

Like almost all of my applique quilt patterns this finishes to a 10″ block. That means you can easily pop a bunny into any of my other quilt designs. A cute bunny would be a great addition to the Wild Flowers quilt or the Noisy Farm quilt. 🙂

Remember – you can adjust the size of any digital pattern to make it work for all kinds of projects!

Add a single bunny to a T-shirt or a baby onesie.

Add a single applique to this free receiving blanket pattern.

Add a different bunny to each side of this free tablet cover pattern.

Applique a bunny to any tote bag pattern – like this free mini tote bag.

Make a pillow using this free tutorial.

Use the pattern pieces with pretty paper to make collage greeting cards, like these I make for my daughter.

You can even shrink them down extra small and use them for embroidery patterns!

Have fun playing with these bunnies!

If you like them – sign up for the Shiny Happy News so you never miss a free pattern, a new tutorial, or the little bits of happiness I like to share!

Happy sewing!

Best,
Wendi

It’s Show & Tell Time!

March 17, 2015

I have so many Show & Tell photos waiting to be shared that I’m going to have to do this over a few weeks. This week I’m starting with QUILTS. Grab a cup of tea and get ready to enjoy some amazing creations!

Sprinkles doll quilt

Julie made this extra special Sprinkles quilt for her Lizzie doll.

The embroidery! Her name! The flowers with the little button centers! The little drawing of Lizzie! It’s all so incredibly cute!

Pattern: Sprinkles doll quilt (free)

More Sprinkles

Karen made this very pretty Sprinkles quilt.

She writes. . .

I made this for my granddaughter who just turned two in August, for her favorite baby doll. She promptly pronounced it “mine” and took a nap with it! She usually takes some time to warm up to new things, so I was thrilled! Thanks for the wonderful pattern!

I love hearing that!

Pattern: Sprinkles doll quilt (free)

Puppies Quilt

Donna also added a name to her quilt. Look at the incredible Puppies quilt she made!

She writes. . .

I still have to sew down the binding, but couldn’t wait to show and tell. The quilt is for baby Jake and the pillow for his big bother….. The dog on the pillow is commenting on what a great big brother Luke is! Thanks for another great pattern. Oh yes, you may notice one of the dogs is actually a Canadian beaver… Lol… there is a reason for this. 🙂

Everything about this is incredibly cute! (Including the adorable beaver in the middle.)

Pattern: Puppies quilt pattern

Another Puppies Quilt

Look what Janette made for her grandson!

She writes. . .

I love your patterns and thank you for making them so much fun. I have made a play mat for my grandson who loves the faces of the dogs.

I love how they’re all shades of blue, green and yellow – with that one bright red bulldog. I wonder if her grandson makes a beeline for that one every time. 🙂

Pattern: Puppies quilt pattern

And Another Puppies Quilt

I just love seeing all the different color combinations in these puppy quilts! Here’s one from Sue in Australia.

So bright and fun! And I love all the geometric backgrounds – dots and checks and chevrons. They contrast so well with the puppies! And the addition of the Kind Charles Cavalier Spaniel right in the middle is great. 🙂

Pattern: Puppies quilt pattern

Cats Quilt

Delta made a very pretty Cats quilt.

I’m so glad she shared the pieced back too!

Pattern: Cats quilt pattern

Another Cats Quilt

Louise made this bright and cheerful Cats quilt.

She writes. . .

I had never used fleece on the back it worked like a dream! I used a hem stitch so that it was somewhat wide and crossed over the seam. It made such a nice checkerboard on the back. We also found the perfect binding with bright colored squares.

Here’s a close-up of that stitch she used on the seam.

I really like this idea and I think I’m going to have to give it a try!

Pattern: Cats quilt pattern

And Another Cats Quilt

Look at this absolutely stunning Cats Quilt that Kay made!

Wow! Wow! Wow! I love those crisp black outlines! And look at the outline versions of the cats on the yellow blocks on the back! Wait until you hear why she did that. 🙂

Kay writes. . .

Thought I would email my new “Cat” Quilt that I have just finished for you to have a look at. This is the first time I have done machine applique and I really enjoyed playing around with these little guys. When I was putting the yellow blocks together I realized that you could see the black applique stitching through the fabric, so I just decided to do black outline on the backing fabric. I am now looking forward to starting on my “Puppy” Quilt. I think this one will be in girly colours of pink, mauve, green. I am so happy that I found “My Shiny Happy World” on the internet. I love watching your lessons and receiving your emails and updates.

This is so bold and graphic and fantastic! And I love what she did with those yellow blocks. What a great way to turn a “mistake” into an asset!

Pattern: Cats quilt pattern

Cats and Dogs Living Together

Melinda made this terrific quilt for her animal-loving family. She combined blocks from the Cats and Dogs quilts. I love when people do that!

Patterns: Cats quilt pattern, Puppies quilt pattern

Thick & Thin Quilt

Jane made this beautiful Thick & Thin quilt!

She writes. . .

I made your quilt. Although you can’t tell from the horrible image, it’s stunning. I love it! Your pattern was easy, fun and very concise. Thank you so much. My granddaughter will have this treasure for a very long time to come.

I’ll bet she loves it!

Pattern: Thick & Thin (free)

Embroidered Quilt

Look at the beautiful doll quilt that Loretta made for her daughter!

She writes. . .

I just finished this little quilt for my 4 year old daughter’s dolls. Thought I’d share. I stinking love it!! I know you are not doing embroidery patterns any more for business reasons, but my those were my favorites. Thanks for helping me make such a precious thing for my baby girl. I would have never tried this stuff if it wasn’t for your encouraging website and business. I love it!

I love it too! And I know her daughter does. 🙂

Patterns: It’s Raining Rainbows (free), My Heart Is Full (free), Blossom (free) and Queen of Hearts

Safari Quilt

Brett made this stunning Safari Quilt!

She writes. . .

I finished the safari quilt and love how it turned out. I know you are about to redesign this quilt, but I could not wait to finish this quilt. My son loves it and adores all the animals, especially the elephant! I think the gazelle is my favorite!I I tried some fabric colors/ fabrics that you suggested and was very pleased with the outcome.

I love it!

Pattern: Safari Quilt (The new pattern has smaller blocks that will almost all print out on a single sheet of paper.)

Monsters!

Caroline made a super fun monster quilt.

She writes. . .

My monster quilt is finally finished. It’s not the neatest work you’ve ever seen and there’s plenty of folds and tucks despite using a walking foot. But my grandson loves it and so do I. I decided to quilt around each monster, my introduction to free motion quilting. Soon gave that up as a bad joke. The flannelette backing certainly didn’t help it glide. So I pushed and pulled and poked it through the machine till it was all done. Never again. Quilt as you go will be the only quilting I do from now on. I hope you don’t mind, I changed your curly horn monster and also left off the embroidered mouths. I thought they looked better. Thanks for the pattern, I really enjoyed making it (apart from the quilting) I also enjoy your blog.

I love it! All those googly eyes and such fun colors and patterns! And that’s funny about the mouths – Jo likes to leave them off sometimes too. 🙂

Pattern: Scary Squares monster quilt pattern

Spooky Cat

Jo Ann made this great mini quilt with the Spooky Cat pattern!

I love her against the black and white and orange pieced background!

Pattern: Spooky Kitty (free)

Cats Again!

Robin made this fun cats wall hanging as a silent auction item for her local animal rescue organization.

I love the black and white speckled sashing with the bright colors of the blocks!

Pattern: Cats Quilt pattern

A Bunch of Dogs and One AWESOME Cat

Look closely at this quilt that Tina made.

She writes. . .

Well my puppy quilt is done! Took a while, but great fun! I used QAYG and freezer paper. My son requested a cat too – so I included one that he drew – hence the crazy face… Here’s a pic! I never thought I would make a quilt so feeling pretty good!

That cat block in the middle is – hands down – my favorite block in the whole quilt. 🙂

Pattern: Puppies quilt pattern

One More With Cats

Diane made this lovely Cats Quilt for herself.

I love the pastels with just a few pops of chocolate brown. Such a pretty contrast!

Pattern: Cats quilt pattern

And she’s started work on a Safari quilt to hang on the wall of her church’s Sunday school wing.

Totally different color choices! 🙂

Pattern: Safari Quilt pattern

Thanks so much to everyone who shared photos! I’ll be back next week sharing some huggable stuffed animals you all have made!

Happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Free Quilt Pattern – Thick & Thin

February 18, 2015

I designed this quilt with two things in mind.

One – I wanted it to be easy and fun. Of course. That’s a main consideration in all my quilt designs. 🙂

Two – I wanted it to work especially well with those awesome fabric collections with great illustration that you just don’t want to cut up.

You know what I’m talking about.

How could I cut up this image?

Or this?

Use larger scale prints for the wide stripes, smaller scale on the narrow stripes. It’s a great way to use a whole fabulous fabric collection – which is especially nice for folks who stress out about choosing fabric.

I used the absolutely gorgeous Wee Wander collection by Sarah Jane – one of the prettiest fabric collections I’ve ever seen. 🙂 I made this quilt over a year ago, so that particular fabric collection is going to be harder to find, but there are lots of other fun options out there! How about this pretty folk floral collection from Anna Maria Horner?

I designed it especially for great prints like these – but you’re not limited to that! Try it in solids in a nice ombre layout. Or create a rainbow from your favorite tone on tone prints.

Stripes are always in season – always in style. And they’re oh so easy to sew. 🙂

Thick & Thin is a free quilt pattern.

That’s right – FREE! And that doesn’t mean it’s some skimpy abbreviated form of one of my regular patterns. You’ll get everything one of my regular quilt patterns normally includes.

Complete instructions – including yardage requirements, cutting instructions, and assembly diagrams – for six different sizes.

Baby (36″ x 48″)
Crib (50″ x 52″)
Nap (65″ x 76″)
Twin (65″ x 88″)
Queen (86″ x 92″)
King (104″ x 92″)

Detailed instructions – you’ll never feel lost or wonder if you’re doing things wrong.

Instructions (and diagrams) for pieced backs for all the quilt sizes.

Links to videos teaching you all the skills you’ll need to complete the project – including basting, quilting and binding.

Detailed quilting instructions – none of this “quilt as desired” single line of instruction at the end. 🙂

This is a very easy quilt – easy to cut, easy to sew, and easy to machine quilt.

Want the pattern? Here’s the link to download it – free!

Download the Thick & Thin quilt pattern here.

If you like this pattern, sign up for the Shiny Happy News! Subscribers get a weekly newsletter with crafty tips and tricks, free patterns, special discounts and more.

Happy quilting, everyone!

Best,
Wendi

How to Make a Quilt Hanging Sleeve

December 11, 2014

I get a lot of questions about how to make a quilt hanging sleeve, so here (finally!) is a tutorial. 🙂

1. Cut a strip of fabric 4 inches wide and as long as the width of your quilt. You’re going to hem the edges and that will bring the sides of your hanging sleeve in a bit from the edges of the quilt – which will allow you to hide the hanging hardware if you want.

2. Hem the sides of your strip. I turn it under roughly 3/8 inch and then another 3/8 inch – but it doesn’t need to be exact. (Here’s a video showing how to sew a double-fold hem.)

3. Fold the strip in half, right sides facing out. Press.

rectangle of green fabric on a blue background

If you’re going to use a really fat rod to hang the quilt, you might want to fold it not-exactly in half, so that the sleeve pouches out a bit in back to make a little extra room for the rod. I always use a fairly slender curtain rod, though, so I just fold it in half.

4. Line up the raw edges of the sleeve with the raw edge of the top of the quilt and pin or clip in place.

Green sleeve pinned to the back of a blue quilt

5. Sew the hanging sleeve in place while you attach the binding – one easy step! (This video shows how I bind my quilts.)

hanging sleeve sewn to the top edge of a quilt

6. Hand sew the bottom of the hanging sleeve in place when you hand sew the back of the binding.

Finished back of quilt with a hanging sleeve at the top - a tutorial from Shiny Happy World

Done!

You want to see the front of this little wall hanging, don’t you?

finished applique cat mini quilt/wall hanging - fat orange cat on a purple background

It’s my favorite block from this Cat Quilt pattern. 🙂

Want to add a little extra fanciness to a single-block wall-hanging? Add a wonky churn dash frame around the block, like I did here.

Make a Wall Hanging - How to Add a Wonky Churn Dash Frame to Your Favorite Quilt Block - tutorial from Shiny Happy World

So cute! Single-blocks wall hangings like this are a great way to get extra use out of your quilt patterns.

Here are all my posts about how to bind and finish your quilt.

Finished with this topic?

Return to the Let’s Make a Quilt main Table of Contents.

Move on to more info about other things (not quilts!) that you can make with your applique patterns.

Happy sewing!

Free Santa Applique Pattern

December 9, 2014

Use this free Santa applique pattern to make all kinds of things! Here are just a few ideas (with links to free patterns) . . .

a pillow
a tote bag
a gift bag
a T-shirt
a mug rug or coaster
a wall hanging
a stocking
placemats

The pieces are designed to make an applique that fits in a 10 inch block. That makes it really easy to resize as needed. Do you want to make a 4 inch coaster? Print the pieces at 40% size. Do you want to make a tote bag that’s 17 inches square? Print the pieces at 170% size.

The question is – where can’t you use a jolly old elf?

A Little Extra Help

If you’ve never done any applique before, or are new to my method) there’s a free video workshop here. You can work through the lessons using any pattern – including this Santa.

There’s also a single video here that takes you through all the basic steps of my method.

You can find loads of single-topic tutorial videos here, and also by using the search box at the top of the page.

Prep Your Block

Cut an 11” square of fabric for the background, and an 11 inch square of batting.

Press them both (with steam) and let them cool. Layer the background square over the batting square and quilt the two layers together. Do NOT add the backing yet. This video shows some of my favorite straight-line patterns, and this video shows some of my favorite wavy line patterns.

Press the quilted block again (with steam) and let it cool.

This video has a general intro to my Quilt As You Go method, along with complete instructions for how to assemble the block. It’s a long video, but there’s timestamp info to help you skip to the specific instructions you want.

Cut Your Pieces

Download the template pieces and placement guide here.

If you have an electric cutting machine, you can use it to cut your pieces. Download the SVG file here.

The image in the SVG file is NOT reversed. If your cutting machine has you cut your pieces fabric side up, leave the orientation as it is. If your cutting machine has you cut your pieces fabric side down, you’ll need to flip the image horizontally.

Different cutting machine brands import the image at what seems to be totally random sizes. To fit the appliqué on a block that finishes at 10 inches square, check to make sure the small square in the image is one inch, and resize if necessary before ungrouping the pieces. Delete that square after resizing so your machine doesn’t try to cut it. 🙂

Print your templates.

If you’re cutting everything by hand you’ll need to print the reversed and exploded templates. If you’re using printable fusible adhesive (I use Heat & Bond Lite for all my quilts) you can print those pages directly onto the paper side of your fusible.

If you’re using a lightbox you’ll also need to print the placement guide.

Roughly cut around each shape. Leave a little bit extra all the way around each piece.

Follow the package instructions and fuse each piece to the wrong side of the fabric.

Cut out each piece neatly, directly on the solid lines.

Cutting after you fuse ensures that the adhesive goes right to the very edge of the fabric.

Trace the dotted lines onto the fabric. If you hold the pieces up to a window, the light will make the lines very visible – even on dark fabric.

If you want to skip this step, this video shows how to use a light box. If you use a light box, you only need to transfer the smile.

Put It All Together

Peel off the paper backing and arrange the pieces on your background block. Fuse in place according to the adhesive package instructions.

This video shows the assembly with me explaining how I’m layering the pieces.

This video shows the same thing – but using a light box to guide placement.

Stitch all the edges down. You can use any stitch you like, in matching or contrasting thread. I really love the cartoony look of a simple straight stitch with black thread.

I demonstrate sewing with different thread weights here.

This post will help you with the order in which to stitch.

This post has tips for stitching tight curves.

And this post shows three ways to add catchlights to the eyes.

Finished!

For this slightly subdued color palette I used colors from the Farmers Market collection.

The background block is one of these pre-printed quilt blocks in Farmers Market – Light.

The reds are from the Strawberry Blenders and the whites are from Salt & Pepper Blenders.

And here’s a version I did in the brightest, most saturated colors I have.

This color palette is called Classic Rainbow.

The background block is one of these pre-printed quilt blocks in Classic Rainbow – Medium.

The reds are from the Red Blenders and the whites are from Salt & Pepper Blenders.

Finishing

If you’re making a quilt, trim your finished block to 10 1/2” square.

If you’re using your block to make something else, just follow the pattern instructions for whatever you’re making. You’ll find a bunch of project ideas (and free patterns) here.

Merry Christmas!

Controlled Chaos Block #13 – Scrap Quilt Tutorial

November 19, 2014

I realized that I didn’t have much diagonal action in the quilt yet, so I’m correcting that with the next few blocks.

Here’s block #13 in the Controlled Chaos Quilt!

What You’ll Need

48 two-inch squares in color A (shown in purple)
52 two-inch squares in color B (shown in yellow)

Instructions

Use 1/4″ seam allowances for all sewing.

Press all the seams. I’m pressing mine open for this quilt. I think it will make things simpler in the end.

Arrange your squares according to the diagram below.

For this block I sewed things up in rows. First we’ll sew some groups of like colors together. . .

1. Sew up 12 sets of three purple squares.

2. Sew up 14 sets of three yellow squares.

3. Sew up 4 pairs of two purple squares.

4. Sew up 4 pairs of two yellow squares.

Use the diagram above to sew those groups into rows.

Then sew those rows into one fabulous block. 🙂

That’s 13 blocks done – just 7 more to go!

I still haven’t decided whether I’ll use sashing between the blocks or not. If I do it will be in a nice slate grey. If I d0 use sashing it’ll be 310 seams I don’t have to match up – a major plus in my book. 🙂

Click here for all the Controlled Chaos posts.

Happy piecing!

Best,
Wendi

How to Make an Easy Charity Quilt – a simple and fun tutorial

November 4, 2014

The easy charity quilt I made for Craft Hope is finished and on its way. I love how it turned out!

Craft Hope is an organization that partners with different organizations to collect handmade items for donation. I know lots of crafters like making items to donate and there’s always a demand for patterns for easy charity quilts, so when I made my Craft Hope Quilt I decided to share the how-to so you could make one too, if you’re so inclined.

It’s an easy and fun technique – great for beginners of all ages. I’ve been posting lots of in-progress photos as I go and I’ve been getting a ton of questions, so I’m going to answer them here all in one place. . .

How are you piecing and quilting the blocks all at once?

That is the magic of Quilt As You Go. It really is the perfect no-stress way to make a scrap quilt of this kind.

You can see a full tutorial for the process here.

Did you really make it all from scraps?

Yep. I have (had) a lot of scraps and I store them in baskets sorted by color – which made it really easy to make this kind of quilt without making a HUGE mess in my studio. It was more of a manageable mess. 🙂

If you did all the quilting while you pieced, how are you backing it? Do you have to quilt it again?

Here’s what the back of the quilt looks like.

I backed it in Cuddle Fleece – delightfully soft, cuddly, and easy to work with. I used it as the back of a quilt for my daughter a little over a year ago and she loves it so much that she basically told me I should never use anything else. 🙂

You can see that the front is nice and crinkly after washing – every seam is also quilted so it crinkles up nicely.

The back has a lot less quilting. I sewed all the finished, quilted blocks together, pressed the seams open, backed it with the fleece, basted it (I use safety pins) and then quilted 1/4″ from each block-joining seam. I like the kind of frame-ish effect around each block and I like the big grid on the back.

There’s a video here showing that technique in more detail.

How big is the finished quilt?

Each block is a 10″ square, finished, so the full quilt is 60″ wide and 90″ tall. You could very easily make it bigger or smaller just by adding or removing blocks. You could also change the size of the blocks, but I don’t think I’d make them much bigger – a 10″ grid on the back of the quilt works very well but there might be some bagging or sagging if you went a lot bigger. I’ve done some quilts with 12″ blocks and that works fine too.

Why don’t you spray baste?

I tried it once (many years ago) and it was a disaster. The fumes are pretty intense and you’re supposed to do it outside – but there’s no clean place in my yard to do it and I don’t have a clothesline to use for that method. So I tried it inside where the fumes almost killed me. I got overspray in my carpet (which was very hard to wash out) and then the adhesive gummed up my needle the whole time I was sewing. The product has probably improved a lot since then (I don’t even remember what brand I tried) but it will be a while before I’m ready to try it again. 😛

How do you pick your binding on a quilt with so many colors?

I really love to use black and white or dark grey bindings with a rainbow quilt like this. I actually would have preferred a nice crisp black and white stripe for this, but I didn’t have enough of that and I needed to ship the quilt out to make the deadline so I went with the black and white gingham-ish print you see in the photo above. I love black and white with bright colors!

That’s it!

With winter and the holidays coming, a lot of organizations are calling for quilts – especially twin quilts and crib quilts for kids in need and lap quilts for seniors. This is a fun technique for an easy charity quilt that even beginning quilters can make successfully. Kids can do it too! Give it a try!

Happy quilting!

Best,
Wendi

Spooky – a free cat applique pattern

October 17, 2014

Spooky - free cat applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

You can add this free cat applique pattern to your Cuddly Cats quilt pattern if you like. I designed it especially to have really terrific eyes for a black cat – but you can make it any color you like.

I love black cats! I grew up with two of them – Nasty and Gandalf. But it can be tricky to applique the eyes on a black cat. Almost all of my animals in all of my applique patterns have simple black oval eyes. That helps give all my designs a cohesive look – and they’re also simple to applique. But what if the animal you’re making is black? Black bears, black panda eyes, black raccoon eyes, black penguin eyes, and, of course, black cat eyes.

This post shows you a quick and easy trick to applique dark eyes on dark faces. But I really love black cats and I really wanted to make a free cat applique pattern with big, glowy cat eyes.

So I did!

Especially for Halloween, I created this spooky black cat applique – a single block applique pattern – with huge luminous green eyes. I love her! And the pattern is the same size as the blocks in the Cuddly Cats quilt so you can mix and match if you like. 🙂

There’s a tutorial here with instructions for making a hanging sleeve so you can make your block into a Halloween wall decoration. It’s easy!

Here’s how to make the block. (This video shows all the steps for working with fusible adhesive – if you’ve never done it before you’ll find it helpful.)

Step 1

Download the template pieces here.

Step 2

Trace or print the pattern onto the paper side of the fusible adhesive.

I use Heat & Bond Lite printable fusible adhesive sheets so I just printed out the page. No tracing!

The image has already been reversed, so just trace or print. If you’re tracing, be sure to trace the facial features too. You’ll need those for Step 5.

Step 3

Rough cut around each shape and fuse it to the back of your fabric.

applique pattern pieces cut out - from the Spooky free cat applique pattern from Shiny Happy World

Leave a little bit extra all the way around - a little extra extra (at least 1/4 inch) where there’s a dotted line, like the top of neck shoulders and the base of the ears.

Step 4

Cut around each piece neatly. Cut directly on the solid lines.

Leave a little seam allowance on the dotted lines - the top of the neck and the base of the ears will tuck behind the head.

Step 5

Remember when I told you to make sure you traced the facial features in Step 1? Now you’re going to use that. Hold the face up to a window so the light shines through it. You’ll be able to see the lines, and the adhesive will stabilize the fabric so you can trace on it without it crinkling up.

Since this is a dark fabric, I traced with a white chalk pencil.

Here you can see all the tracing I did – without the light shining through.

I traced the whiskers and mouth exactly, since I’ll be stitching over those lines. I traced the nose a little smaller, and just marked the corners of the eyes to help me position the applique pieces later.

Step 6

If you’re doing Quilt As You Go (I did) then you can quilt your block before adding the applique. So easy!

I used a bunch of orange scrappy strips all sewn together for a super textured background, but you can use just one solid square.

Cut your background fabric and a piece of 100% cotton batting 11 inches square.

Layer the block with a piece of 100% cotton batting. Quilt any pattern you like!

Find all the Quilt As You Go tutorials here.

If you’ll do the quilting later, simply skip this step.

Step 7

Peel off the paper backing and arrange the pieces on a background block. Tuck the ears and the neck behind the head.

Remember - all the dotted lines indicate where pieces tuck behind other pieces.

Fuse the pieces in place.

Step 8

Outline all the pieces with black thread and a simple straight stitch – or choose your favorite decorative stitch.

This video has some tips for outlining those tight curves.

Done!

One free cat applique pattern, all finished!

If you’re making a one-block project, go ahead and finish it up!

If you’re making a bunch of cats to join into a quilt - have fun!

Please share a photo of what you make! You can share it in the Shiny Happy People group or tag it with #shinyhappyworld on Instagram.

Happy stitching!

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Sprinkles doll quilt

More Sprinkles

Puppies Quilt

Another Puppies Quilt

And Another Puppies Quilt

Cats Quilt

Another Cats Quilt

And Another Cats Quilt

Cats and Dogs Living Together

Thick & Thin Quilt

Embroidered Quilt

Safari Quilt

Monsters!

Spooky Cat

Cats Again!

A Bunch of Dogs and One AWESOME Cat

One More With Cats

Thick & Thin is a free quilt pattern.

A Little Extra Help

Prep Your Block

Cut Your Pieces

Put It All Together

Finished!

Finishing

How are you piecing and quilting the blocks all at once?

Did you really make it all from scraps?

If you did all the quilting while you pieced, how are you backing it? Do you have to quilt it again?

How big is the finished quilt?

Why don’t you spray baste?

How do you pick your binding on a quilt with so many colors?

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Step 7

Step 8

Done!

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